Background

Bud Light is the best-selling beer in the U.S. and the official beer sponsor of the NFL and UFC, Bud Light HotelWorld-Renowned Super Bowl Advertiser, Bud Light Music First and Only in March.

Facts and figures

Issue

For the event, Bud Light transformed a local hotel into a sleek lounge and concert venue, unrecognizable to anyone who had visited the same space just a week before. In addition to hosting exclusive parties from EA SPORTS and Playboy, the Bud Light Hotel hosted a special concert featuring 50 Cent, Lil Jon and Bud Light-sponsored artist Pitbull the night before the Super Bowl and a special afternoon concert featuring the Barenaked Ladies before the game.

Idea

A) Creative strategy – small spaces: Whether you have a little or a lot of space, you can always do with more. Well, there are ways of cheating the space you have. IKEA is known for its affordable furniture and cool Scandinavian style. But not enough people know that the brand represents interiors expertise.

What do consumers need? Ideas and inspiration! An immersive digital destination let them have a nose around loads of clever products and solutions all under one roof. They could follow the narrator as she shared the clever thinking behind the spaces. Or they could explore wherever they wanted, thanks to the 360° surround video format.

They could click on hotspots to open up relevant content, from tips and inspiration to product solutions. Linking content to the commercial site completed the user journey and maximized online and in store visits.

Having a range of solutions all under one roof made it easy for customers to find what they needed. They could use the tool across desktop and mobile devices. By showing consumers the clever thinking behind IKEA products, the campaign also got them thinking about the depth of IKEA’s offering. Small prices. Big ideas.

Impact

Over the course of four days, more than 22,000 people visited the Bud Light Hotel, including consumers, reporters, wholesalers, company executives and account representatives. The program also drew the attention of national media, garnering more than 860 million audience impressions through editorial coverage, strategic ad buys and broadcast integration.

The Bud Light Hotel was with the award for Best Brand Activation at Live Event at the 2013 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards. The second-annual awards ceremony by the influential trade publication, which honors the best in sports television, social media and marketing, recognized the Bud Light Hotel event for its uniqueness in activating its NFL sponsorship around one of the biggest sporting events of 2012: Super Bowl XLVI.

Online figures were great on the VOD with 386,000 actions (clicks) and 200,000 views (average dwell time of 2mins per vid)